Distillery plans to cut costs with bacteria-eating 'digesters'

Sludge from a distillery on Islay is set to be turned into green energy to power whisky production on the island.
Bruichladdich will next month install two anaerobic digesters – in which bacteria eat yeasty waste to produce methane – at a cost of about £300,000.

The methane gas will then be burned to provide electricity for the distillery.

Managers forecast the system to have paid for itself within five years and expect savings on their waste disposal costs which currently run at £20,000 a year.